October 4, 2008 - Niagara Falls North KOA, Youngstown, NY

Today was a busy (and expensive) day. We left this morning and went to Fort Niagara.

The French first had a post here in 1679. They built the French Castle

there in 1726 which provided living quarters for the military and a trading post. The British took the fort over during the French and Indian War, and then the U. S. took it during the Revolution. The British won it back during the War of 1812, but had to cede it back to the U.S. following that war. The last army units were withdrawn in 1963. The U.S. Coast Guard still has a unit there.

We had taken Penny with us (she stayed in the truck) while we toured the fort. We brought her back to the trailer before we went to Canada. We DROVE over to the Canadian side. While the view is much better from the Canadian side,

it is much more commercialized than the U.S. side. They have numerous tourist trap stores side by side. Huge hotels, chain restaurants and big casinos line the streets all with neon signs flashing beckoning everyone to come in and spend their money. The view is great though, you can see the falls so much better that from the U.S.


While we were walking along the riverside area looking at the falls and flowers,

probably about a half mile from the parking lot, Larry started worrying that he had left the GPS plugged in. He was afraid we would get back to a dead battery, so I sat and waited while he walked back to the truck and then back to where he had left me. Even he was starting to feel it in his calves by the end of the day. While I waited for Larry, I talked with a lady from Scotland who was there through a tour, but they had the day off. She was telling me the drive along the river toward Lake Ontario was so beautiful. After we left the downtown touristy area, we took the drive she had told me about. It really was lovely with huge old houses, mansions really, to the one side of the road, and the river on the other side. There were signs saying this was the wine tour drive. There were several vineyards and wineries along the way. The specialty wine of the area is Icewine. They leave the grapes on the vine and don’t pick them till they are frozen to below zero degrees. It was a really sweet wine.

Yesterday we parked in the parking lot of the Niagara Falls Park for $10.00. We could have left and re-entered or parked in any of the other parking areas just by showing our parking receipt. Today, we had to pay $3.50 to cross the bridge into Canada, then the parking lot fee was $20.00. Coming back into the U.S, there was no fee. The entrance into the U.S. was a slight search or look through and a few questions about whether we had any weapons and questions about what we had purchased, but no entrance fees. They looked at our passports, but didn’t stamp them or mark them in any way.